Earlier

Tesoro E&P Company L.P., a wholly-owned affiliate of TesoroPetroleum Corp., announced earlier this week it purchased a 50%working interest from Sheridan Energy in the Stiles Ranch Fieldnorth of Amarillo, TX.

Nicor Gas earlier this week submitted a proposal to the IllinoisCommerce Commission (ICC) that, if approved, would provide customerchoice for the first time to single-family residential natural gascustomers in the northern part of the state.

Like an immovable object the downtrend weighed on the futuresmarket again on Thursday, completely erasing advances made earlierin the week. That left the September contract down 4.2 cents to$1.831, but more importantly the prompt month continues to plodtoward substantive support in the $1.78-81 area, causing tradersto wonder if that level will hold or be merely a speed bump.

The futures market rebounded Friday, recapturing some of thelosses registered earlier in the week as light position squaringearly in the day gave way to moderated short-covering ahead of theweekend. That left the August contract above the critical $2.00level, closing up 8.3 cents at $2.031.

California regulators and Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E)earlier this week protested a letter agreement between El PasoNatural Gas and Dynegy Marketing and Trading, that they claim wouldgive the latter the “unilateral right” to keep a large portion ofthe Block II capacity on El Paso off the California market withoutbeing subject to recall rights.

FERC earlier this week gave its blessing to the indirect mergerof two Midwest electric utilities – Wisconsin Public Service andUpper Peninsula Power.

Cash prices slipped lower in most areas yesterday, giving backweather-driven gains earlier in the week. Sources blamed theweakness mainly on the inability of the June futures contract tomuster considerable gains, along with forecasts of moderatingtemperatures going into the weekend. With the exception of minorgains in Sumas and Stanfield, most trading areas lost between 3-5cents Tuesday.

Viking Gas Transmission formally dropped out of the VikingVoyageur partnership earlier this week and now plans to test themarket for a separate, smaller expansion of its existing system,VGT President Greg Palmer, a former spokesman for Voyageur, saidyesterday. VGT intends to hold an open season to collect customerinterest in the project this summer.

Fearing that it might be growing dusty and staid, FERC earlierthis month kicked off a three-month, all-encompassing review of itsprocedures and processes “to try and keep current with the times,including a very changing energy marketplace that we regulate,”Chairman James Hoecker said.